Travertine anyone?
 

I just wanted to get any thoughts on using travertine. We will be putting it in the laundry room and wanted to know what kind of experience any of you have had with travertine. It has a real nice look but I am curious as to its durability, etc.

Travertine is popular in Utah and the west. Don't see much in construction in the east. Looks good IMO, but not a big fan personally. It is porous though. Be sure to buy a sealer to coat the travertine with afterwards especially in a wet area like a laundry room. Other than that, it's like laying most other tile. Not difficult for the do-it-yourselfer.

Thanks for your thoughts...I will agree with you on it not being that big in the East. I like the look though with some different variations. I really like slate but overall it just may be too dark for our laundry room. It is funky. For now, I am leaning toward doing the travertine.

We have constructed using it and it's great, but expensive.

Aren't stalagmites and stalictites made of travertine? If your laundry room is going to be a cave, I'd love for you to post some pics when you're done. That would be awesome.

Travertine is porous and needs to be sealed like any other natural stone. Travertine, is naturally swiss-cheese like and the holes are filled, sometimes the filling can pop out of the holes but it isnt too common. Travertine usually calls for a tighter joint than slate or ceramic and that can make installation harder.
Slate comes in light colors also.
http://www.utahstonesource.com/image...ns/slate2B.jpg

Just found this thread. We found some 18" ceramic tile that look a lot like travertine that we're going to use in our kitchen. It's a lot cheaper and you don't have the installation / porous issues you do with travertine.

A brother-in-law was looking into concrete floors a while back and I was surprised at what you can do with that. The acid-etching and staining are very nice, IMO.

http://www.concretenetwork.com/concr...ors/index.html

http://www.concretefloordesigns.com/gallery/New-Floors

Thanks for the suggestions. Parrot--I actually looked into concrete for a possible countertop. Different and can be kinda cool, but I doubt I will do it.

I ended up doing the travertine. I like the tiles but I wanted the look and feel of travertine. I got it for around $2.50 a square foot. I will put up some pictures in a couple of days.